U.N. Finds Its Voice on Syria’s ‘Transition’

UNITED NATIONS — For four years, the United Nations Security Council has been unable to agree on what to say — let alone what to do — to stop the civil war in Syria.

On Monday, the Council managed to adopt a modest statement, nudging the Syrian government and its opponents to discuss a “political transition,” while sidestepping the thorny question of what to do about the man at the center of the war: Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

The statement came a day after Mr. Assad’s forces bombed a rebel-held town just outside the capital of Damascus, killing about 100 people. It was one of the deadliest single air attacks in the war, which has so far resulted in 250,000 deaths and forced half the population to flee their homes.

The top United Nations official for humanitarian affairs, Stephen O’Brien, at the end of a three-day visit to Syria, on Monday called the airstrikes “appalling.” The United Nations’ envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said the airstrikes were “unacceptable in any circumstances.”

The Security Council statement is not legally binding. Still, it was met with complaints from Venezuela, whose objections to the measure’s language delayed its adoption for several days. On Monday, the Venezuelan ambassador, Rafael Ramírez, rebuked the Council for not recognizing what he called “the legitimacy of the Assad government.”

The statement calls for the establishment of “a Syrian-led political process leading to a political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and enables them independently and democratically to determine their future, including through the establishment of an inclusive transitional governing body with full executive powers, which shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent while ensuring continuity of governmental institutions.”

The statement largely echoes what diplomats agreed to in Geneva in 2012. It says nothing specifically about when Mr. Assad would have to step down, and lately Western diplomats who once demanded his ouster have privately suggested that his exit could come at what they call the end of a transitional process. The statement also says nothing about how long a transitional process could last.

Speaking to reporters after the adoption of the measure, the French deputy permanent representative, Alexis Lamek, skirted around the timing of the Assad question, saying only that “Bashar al-Assad is not the future of Syria.”

That is precisely the dilemma that the world powers have been unable to untangle, and it was further complicated by Mr. Assad’s latest airstrikes. The State Department spokesman, John Kirby, condemned the airstrikes on Monday, saying that they demonstrate “the regime’s disregard for human life.”

“As we have said, Assad has no legitimacy to lead the Syrian people,” Mr. Kirby added.

Also on Monday, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, pointedly rejected the notion that Mr. Assad’s departure would have to be a necessary precondition for talks.

“While some of our partners believe that it is necessary to agree in advance that at the end of the transitional period the president will leave his post, this position is unacceptable for Russia,” Mr. Lavrov said after meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Moscow, according to wire service reports.

Even so, one Security Council diplomat said that just the mention of a transitional government — “the T-word,” as he put it — represents an important, incremental signal that Russia and the West, long at loggerheads over Syria, are contemplating a deal. The statement contains a lengthy mention of Russia’s chief concern: the rise of Sunni Islamist extremist groups, namely the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front.

“There’s converging going on, but there’s no convergence yet,” added the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: U.N. Finds Its Voice on Syria’s ‘Transition’. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe